"King's Royal Rifle Corps uniform in 1882 Sudan?" Topic

Title asks the question – what was their uniform at this time? It appears to be a dark green from what I've seen online but the sources may not be reliable. Your assistance appreciated.

During the Egyptian campaign (not Sudan) of 1882, the 3/KRRC wore black serge with black leather equipment. With a bit of artistic/wargamer's license, I painted my 15mm KRRC in a particularly dark shade of rifle green and gave it a black wash, so they better matched what I thought British rifles should look like! Like the majority of the expeditionary force, their white foreign service helmets were stained with tea.

Apparently they left Malta in green home service uniform. I've not read of the black uniform – interesting and just about the worst colour they could have been given.

I'm not sure exactly when they received the grey uniform but I'd put my money on them actually serving in the Sudan Campaign in all grey. They kept their black belts and kit.

Those in the desert column would presumably have the sand/tan coloured 'Bedford cord' trousers.

At this time British so-called "rifle green" uniforms had become simply black because of the frustration over the fugitive nature of the green dyes available.

This question piqued my interest so I went back to my sources and did a bit of googling…

My original sources include Osprey MAA 201, 'The British Army on Campaign 4 1882-1902'. This says that most of the troops wore their home service undress with a "white foreign service helmet with puggarees, which were mostly stained brown". It goes on to say, "Of 3/KRRC's black serge, Lt Marling noted, 'We do look a lot of dirty ruffians'." I recall reading at least one other reference to a black uniform and seeing at least one illustration of such a uniform with red facings; however, I can't find these other references now.

A bit of a search today uncovered the below references to 3/KRRC wearing rifle green uniforms in 1882:

BritishEmpire.co.uk has a really useful photograph of a group of 3/KRRC other ranks "at the start of the campaign in 1882" and says, "The uniforms are rifle green serge frocks and trousers." It also shows undyed helmets: link

BritishBattles.com says, "the KRRC fought in rifle green tunics and trousers.": link

The above 2 references, coupled with near-contemporary description and illustrations of KRRC uniform in home service, indicates that perhaps a (very?) dark, rifle green uniform is more accurate and that descriptions of the uniform as 'black' may be because it looked black under various light conditions. Rifle green certainly looks better for scale model soldiers!

Rifle green at this point was (or pretty much looked) black.

Mmm… I always find it strange when someone poses a question on tmp but never then follows up with any further contribution to the tread they initiated. I'm left wondering whether the information and opinions that were provided in response were of any help.